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I must admit that this represents one of the biggest differences I've noticed between Edmonton and LA. I see things here all the time that couldn't be built/done/etc in Edmonton due to laws, regulations, etc.

OMG, water feature. People might get sick and die if it's not chlorinated!

What a joke, my kids love wading in these pools, its a huge attraction in summer. Very heavy handed / over the top by Capital Health, there are clear signs up "don't wade in the pool", why shouldn't people be allowed to disregard at their own risk? I think so.

Is Capital Health going to close the North Saskatchewan river because somebody could jump in that and drown / get sick? Perhaps we should all put in a complaint to drain that? How about all the other fountains in the City, will Alexander Circle be closed next?

EDMONTON - Edmonton's aging wading pools will be ripped out by 2010 under a $3.8-million city plan to replace most of them with spray decks or other facilities.

The scheme has been in the works for several years, but became more urgent with provincial rules expected this fall that will eventually force wading pools to have circulation and chlorination equipment, community recreation co-ordinator Dee Dee Carr said Wednesday.

"These new regulations are perhaps moving us along at a quicker pace, but if you look across the country, the trend appears to be going to the spray deck (or) water park type of idea. I would suggest it's more of an evolution of the type of water play ... that families and children want to experience."

Edmonton's 34 wading pools are at least 35 years old and have received few or no significant repairs, according to budget documents.

Over the next four years, the city will demolish the pools, at a cost about $130,000 each, and turn them into spray decks, where water shoots out of six nozzles on a flat asphalt or concrete pad before draining away. By comparison, keeping the pools open would cost about $300,000 each for cleaning and circulation equipment.

Seven have been changed to spray decks since 2001.

Community leagues can add extra nozzles or other features, such as water guns, at their own cost. Many are considering $20,000 to $30,000 worth of upgrades, Carr said.

Random tests in 2003-04 turned up unacceptable levels of bacteria at many locations, although no illness has been linked to Edmonton wading pools, she said.

However, chlorine will be added this summer at 17 pools that will remain open for wading at the request of community leagues, she said. About 15 other pools will put steel caps on water outlets to create spray nozzles.

Howard Lawrence of the Highlands Community League is wary of the plans. He doesn't believe his neighbourhood's small wading pool poses any health risk, saying it's refilled twice a day and the concrete deck is bleached regularly.

For more than 20 years, the little pool has been the heart of the community in the summer, frequently packed with children, Lawrence said.

He said a spray deck would be less fun and wouldn't look as good.

"The pool is more than a pool. It's a gathering place for people," he said.

"The city should not be destroying any community space out of fear of litigation until they know they can deliver something equally attractive to parents and kids."

Lawrence said the city told him Highlands can operate the pool as usual this summer.

In Oliver, Susana Chalut said she often plays with her four-year-old daughter Carmen at the Paul Kane Park ornamental pool.

Although it isn't designed for public use and isn't part of the rehabilitation project, she worried that removing wading pools elsewhere would hurt communities.

"It would be sad, because I can tell you there is a whole little world around our pool. Every summer, on every warm day, it's full of kids," she said.

"This city doesn't have an ocean or beaches like in Chile, where I'm from. For me and my daughter, this pool is our beach."

The necessary equipment is being installed to keep two well-used sites open, probably at Kinsmen Park and Borden Park.

The City Hall fountain has the proper filtration machinery and won't be affected by the new regulations, while there are already major spray parks in Castle Downs and Mill Woods.

"We recognize the importance of the traditional wading pool option," Carr said. "We wanted to ensure there was one of these wading pools or a spray park in each of the four quadrants of the city."

Changes to the Public Health Act will include wading pools and spray parks for the first time under swimming pool regulations, Alberta Health spokeswoman Joanne Anderson said.

Once the new rules are approved, probably this fall, wading pools and spray parks will immediately need to have chlorine in their water, she said. Equipment to do it automatically will have to be installed within five years.

"We know that these are used by children, and they're very vulnerable to water-borne illnesses. We want to make sure they have the safest water quality possible," Anderson said.

The province hasn't tracked whether anyone has become sick from being in a wading pool, but an E. coli outbreak was linked to a Vancouver Island spray park in 2004 and there have been similar incidents in the United States, Anderson said.

"Do you give people who already use transit a better service, or do you build it where they don't use it in the hopes they might start to use it?" Nenshi

The city can reinvest the proper technologies into our existing parks to keep them functioning. This park is over 30 years old and the infrastructure has seen little care. The park itself was years ahead of itself and is truly an Edmonton success story in place making and community engagement.

I will say this though.. the city is stuck between a rock and AHS over zealous red tape... In my Opinion.

The city is doing great things in the DT core and the League is working with the city to see what can be done... It's just not happening fast enough and summer is coming.

"Do you give people who already use transit a better service, or do you build it where they don't use it in the hopes they might start to use it?" Nenshi

Over the next four years, the city will demolish the pools, at a cost about $130,000 each, and turn them into spray decks, where water shoots out of six nozzles on a flat asphalt or concrete pad before draining away. By comparison, keeping the pools open would cost about $300,000 each for cleaning and circulation equipment.

Spray parks and pools are not the same thing. You can't easily sit or dangle your feet in a spray, and bouncing balls around a spray is just not the same.

The necessary equipment is being installed to keep two well-used sites open, probably at Kinsmen Park and Borden Park.

Do I need to point out that the Kinsmen is not within easy children's walking distance of any community?

This is just frustrating all around. Next thing you know, it will be illegal to leave the house without a bubble suit.
Paul Kane park with a spray park will not be the same, and I for one won't be in a hurry to bring a book and a lounge chair to stare at a concrete pad with water taps on it.

Our various levels of government need to do a better job of working together - one level wants to improve the city, make it a place that people want to live and play, the other seems to not give a flying hoot about people actually enjoying it, as long as it's 'safe'.

I grew up swimming in prairie lakes, and aside from a bout of swimmer's itch, I don't recall ever getting sick from it. You know, with geese and ducks and fish and farmers and small children all contaminating them in their own way...

The province hasn't tracked whether anyone has become sick from being in a wading pool, but an E. coli outbreak was linked to a Vancouver Island spray park in 2004 and there have been similar incidents in the United States, Anderson said.

What is annoying, is that because on one occasion something bad happened, everywhere, everybody has to have no enjoyment, i.e. what % of wading pools does this happen to? I'm guessing an absolutley minute number.

While I would be upset to get E. coli at a public facility, provided the city posts signs warning of the risk, how is it in anyway liable or responsible?

anyone know if the fountains at the legislature are 'up-to-code', or if they've also been ordered shut off? I have a feeling that pigs would fly before that happened, but I've been known to be wrong...

Nestled quietly behind the Tudor-style Christchurch Anglican Church, the urban park, named for the great Canadian painter, provides badly needed green space for the apartment dwellers of Oliver, Edmonton’s highest-density neighbourhood.

The park is a true community gathering spot. Unlike a playground or spray park, which appeals primarily to children and young families, Paul Kane is what you might call a socially integrated public space, where toddlers and seniors, families, courting couples and urban singletons all gather to take the air and enjoy the greenery.

What makes the park such a magnet?

People come, as though drawn by instinct, for the waters. It isn’t especially elaborate. It’s a modest little artificial pond-cum-fountain, what urban planners call a passive water feature. Somehow, simple though it is, the pretty water works a kind of magic, especially on hot summer days and long sultry nights. It transforms what might otherwise be a dull patch of prairie grassland into an urban oasis

"Do you give people who already use transit a better service, or do you build it where they don't use it in the hopes they might start to use it?" Nenshi

I have no problem with requiring a wading pool, which is primarily used by young children, needing to be chlorinated. When you have toddlers still in diapers it's very easy for one child to contaminate the water with e coli. When those same children keep putting everything in their mouths you can quickly get a large number of young children infected. Treating the water is much cheaper than treating the children after they get sick.

The environmental guy started explaining dihydrocloride blah blah blah and I kinda tuned out... the treatment used was not continuous and broke down in sunlight. What I took away is that they shock treated it...

Personally I would be more concerned about eating meat products from large meat packing plants and eating spinach from large industrial farm. Our processed food system is much more riddled with E coli than a wading pool.

"Do you give people who already use transit a better service, or do you build it where they don't use it in the hopes they might start to use it?" Nenshi

Three years after an E. coli outbreak, thought to be linked to spinach, took three lives and left 205 people sick, "Good Morning America" discovered that while the industry instituted new safety standards to prevent bacterial contamination, there are no requirements to test salad products before they get to market.

New E. Coli Testing Standards Not Mandatory

"Do you give people who already use transit a better service, or do you build it where they don't use it in the hopes they might start to use it?" Nenshi

I have no problem with requiring a wading pool, which is primarily used by young children, needing to be chlorinated. When you have toddlers still in diapers it's very easy for one child to contaminate the water with e coli. When those same children keep putting everything in their mouths you can quickly get a large number of young children infected. Treating the water is much cheaper than treating the children after they get sick.

I have no problem with requiring a wading poolSANDBOX AND OUR PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT, which isare primarily used by young children, needing to be chlorinated. When you have toddlers still in diapers it's very easy for one child to contaminate the water SAND OR SLIDE OR SWING with e coli. When those same children keep putting everything in their mouths you can quickly get a large number of young children infected. Treating the waterSAND OR SLIDE OR SWING is much cheaper than treating the children after they get sick...

while we're at it, maybe we should chlorinate all of the dogs and cats and birds that use that water/sand/slide/swing for "something else entirely different" as well...

Well you know germs exist so we all have to be placed in plastic non germ bubbles so that germs can't get to us.
Personally I haven't been to that park so I don't know what it looks like but I wonder if there are any cheap natural solutions to this Health board created problem.

Some follow-up on this park. Renovations have been underway for a couple weeks. A few dying trees were cut down, benches and sidewalks taken out, and concrete near Paul Kane House broken up. It looks like a nice refresh. The pond will just be re-lined, then surrounded with wetland plantings, and the creek relocated and shortened. Too bad for that part but it will be retained. Sidewalks will be concrete, and there will be a few wooden decks. Unfortunately it'll take nearly a year to do it all so users of this unique little park (are there others in the city like this?) will have to wait for next year.

This park is now open today, complete with water! It was a bit too dark to get me motivated to take pictures. I think it turned out quite nice. One major difference is that there's no direct access to the pond anymore since it's ringed with a riparian (wet) band with some plantings. Though, I'm sure dogs and kids will find their way into it nonetheless. The "creek" is gone, though there is a running-water component that hasn't been enabled yet.